


Turning Out

by geoffox



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Galra Keith, Gradual Transformation, Hurt, Lions, M/M, More Tags Later?, Nonbinary Pidge | Katie Holt, Romance, Secrets, Silly Boys, Slow Burn, Space Dad Shiro (Voltron), Space Mom Allura (Voltron), hive mind galra, ignoring, klance, self hate, sort of canon sort of au, written b4 season 2
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-02
Updated: 2016-10-05
Packaged: 2018-08-19 01:41:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8184223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/geoffox/pseuds/geoffox
Summary: Keith knows that Lance is his soulmate, just like he knows Lance is an oblivious womanizer. Lance knows that Keith is galra, just like he knows Keith has a stupid mullet.Nope, no secrets being kept around here.(Now with more regular updates and some fine ass editing)





	1. the inkling

The cryo cell where Sendak is kept is surrounded by quiet. When entering the room, one gets overwhelmed with the feeling of softness and sleep. It’s not like the healing pods, where the touch of life is diffused into the air, but instead a drowsy sort of plague. Keith feels it while he watches from the sideline as Coran tries to suck out Sendak’s memories or something. Pidge and Shiro seem interested at least. Hunk yawns because he’s tired and they’ve been waiting for a good long while for something to happen and nothing is happening. 

Keith stares at Sendak, stuck in his pod. He’s kinda bored out of his mind, but staring at aliens is at least somewhat interesting. Allura and Coran look more humanoid than galra at least. The only thing they have really  _ off  _ about them are their colorful little eye wedges and their elf ears. Galra are an entirely different matter. They have  _ fur.  _ Purple fur and yellow eyes. And fangs. And weird ears and some of them are part robot? Keith doesn’t really know too much about Galra. He doubts anyone on the ship really does except for Allura and Coran. He blinks and realizes he’s right up against the cryo cell glass. He blinks again because he doesn’t remember getting that close so that’s a bit odd. 

Lance shoulders him out of the way, saying something about the way he’s “hogging the alien” but his voice sounds like it’s underwater. Keith presses one hand against the glass, now off to the side as Lance animatedly talks to Hunk. There’s something— 

“Seriously though, they look so  _ weird.”  _ Lance nods towards Sendak’s unconscious form.

Keith shakes his head, hair falling into his eyes. He pulls his hand away. It’s late and he’s tired from a day of training so he slips away quietly over the sound of quiet chatter and soft buzzing in his head.

 

Soulmates were never something Keith was interested in. He’d overheard people talking about it at Garrison, of how you’d just  _ feel  _ it, the connection that boils through your veins and makes you feel dizzy. There were very few matched soulmates at Garrison, but they seemed happy and at ease and perfect together. Every once in awhile Keith wondered what that felt like. 

 

That night in his room at the castle, Keith dreams of softness between his fingers and the feeling of burning running down his back. He dreams of whispers, crawling into his brain through his ears and a raw pain in his mouth. He wakes up early in the morning and doesn’t care to sleep anymore so he goes to the training deck to blow off steam. Shiro finds him, hours later, sweat dripping off the tip of his nose.

“Couldn’t sleep?” He asks, in that way of his that reeks of commanding presence and gentle calm. 

Keith glances at him, bayard-sword lowering to point at the ground. “Yeah.”

“Well breakfast is happening now. So if you’re hungry, or even if you’re not, I’d suggest eating something.”

“Thanks,” Keith nods. “I’ll be there soon.”

Lance doesn’t really know when to stop talking. This is evident at breakfast when he  _ won’t stop talking.  _ Keith feels like he wants to bang his head into the table, but at the same time he is interested.

“And that’s when Hunk broke the tire swing,” Lance continued, telling a story about one of the summers he spent with his family and Hunk. They all blend together after a while but they’re still fun to listen to.

Hunk shrugs. “The rope was worn out or something.”

“Aw come on big guy.” Lance grins. “The tire just couldn’t handle your awesomeness.”

Hunk smiles bashfully. Pidge laughs. Keith is aware of a faint headache that has him rubbing at his temples but he has a small smile on his face nonetheless. 

“That sounds nice, Lance.” Allura spoke up. “It’s good that you have such a strong bond with your family.”

Lance laughs. “Yeah. I could have a strong bond with  _ you _ too,” he wiggles his eyebrows  _ alluringly.  _

Allura rolls her eyes.

 

The day that Keith first met Lance was weird. He’d seen him in passing of course. They’d both been in the principal's office a couple times together, but hadn’t really talked much. He could hear Hunk and Lance whispering though.

_ “That’s Keith, _ ” Lance had whispered to Hunk.  _ “We’re rivals.” _

Keith sighed

The day that they met. As in,  _ actually  _ met, was a dark rainy day on the Garrison roof. Hunk was there, though Keith still didn’t know his name at the time, and Lance sounded annoyed.

“What are  _ you  _ doing here?” He asked the fighter pilot.

“None of your business,” Keith said evenly.

Lance sidled closer, big man behind him. “Listen, I think we’ve beaten around the bush long enough. I get it, we’re rivals. But we can still get along, right?”

Maybe Keith missed something? “We’re what?”

Lance seemed really annoyed now. “Rivals. Haven’t you been listening to what everyone else has been saying?”

Keith shook his head. There was something about this guy that made him feel funny. Kinda like he was drowning, but in a feeling of suffocating heat. He felt a connection with… what was his name? He hadn’t really known at the time—Lance? Chance? Mance? Pants? Either way he felt strange. Like he was itching all over, skin crawling. He wondered, if—

“Well that’s just  _ great,”  _ Pants threw up his hands exasperatedly “We have a brutal rivalry, and he doesn’t even know! Can you believe it Hunk?” he looked back at the big man. Hunk. That’s  _ his _ name. 

Keith didn’t want to deal with this at the moment. “Why are you here? Exactly?” He asked tiredly.

Lance looked taken aback, but quickly snapped back a reply. “We’re just scouting around cause we need to know the place before we sneak off and pick up girls.”

“Pick up girls.” Keith repeated. There was a hollow tone to his voice.

“Yeah, yanno,” Lance snapped his fingers. “ _ Girls. Ladies.  _ The  _ femme fatale.” _

Keith felt something die out, but the feeling of drowning got stronger. He knew why. He knew and he could not accept it.

“Great, well this is the roof so unless you want to jump I suggest you find another way to  _ pick up girls.”  _ His voice carried bite.

“What’s  _ your  _ deal?” Lance growled. “Whatever, come on Hunk, let’s leave this loner alone.”

Very eloquent.

“Quit it Lance,” Shiro says. He smiles at Allura and she smiles back, a secret exchange, at least to Lance. He’s kind of oblivious. Kind of. 

Keith isn’t bitter.

Over the next couple weeks Keith bites his lip at least twenty-seven times. On accident. He gets a bit annoyed. He gets more annoyed by Lance’s flirting. They’ve stopped at several planets now and he’s watched Lance unsuccessfully try to woo every alien babe they’ve come across. He’s learned to smother the feeling, the connection that only he can feel. Ignoring is something he does very well. He did it when he bounced from foster home to foster home. He did it when he got booted from Garrison. He did it when he got stuck with  _ Lance  _ of all people on team Voltron. 

It works eighty percent of the time.

Meanwhile, strange things continue to happen. He’s been having trouble sleeping. Often times after he lays awake in his bed for too long he’ll go for a walk and Keith’s feet take him straight to Sendak, still stuck in his cryo cell. He doesn’t get too close however, because the last time he was up against the glass, just a few days ago, he’d felt something. A tickle in the back of his head. A sudden pressure. An idea.

Shiro finds him there, much like that day on the training deck. Except it must be the middle of the night in earth hours.

“Couldn’t sleep?” He asks Keith.

Keith looks up from Sendak. For a moment Shiro looks different, younger, with hard eyes like iron. His mechanical arm glows a faint violet that Keith can’t take his gaze off of. He tilts his head, wondering if that’s just a trick of the light or if it’s  _ actually  _ glowing. Something tells him that it’s  _ actually  _ glowing, a sense.

“Uh,” Shiro clears his throat. “You alright?”

Keith realizes both his hands are pressed against Shiro’s arm. He blinks and shakes his head, backing away.

“Uh, sorry. Just—” he doesn’t really know what to say. “Guess I’m a bit loopy.” He nips his lower lip as he says the last word and hisses in annoyance.

“Yeah,” Shiro nods looking faintly worried. “Try to get some rest. You look tired.”

Keith nods but as he heads to his room he feels faintly sad, like he was losing something by leaving. He absentmindedly runs a finger over his teeth, feeling sharp points. Strange.

He dreams of dark figures, all speaking in unison. They mutter things that Keith  _ knows  _ is a different language but still understands. Things like  _ “freedom,”  _ and  _ “control.”  _ His back burns and he feels cold climbing up his limbs. 

He wakes up in a sweat sitting against Sendak’s cryo cell.

Keith is confused but something tells him it’s okay. There’s a feeling of being scattered, separated from something he needs.

Eighty percent of the time.


	2. the well

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay! hello everyone! geoff here. My gurl-pal got me into Voltron and now I breathe Klance. And choke on it too. So take this ink splat of words.

Weeks have gone by. They train every day, form Voltron every  _ other  _ day, and almost every night Keith wakes up by the cryo cell. It’s odd to say, but he’s gotten used to it by this point. There’s something… comforting, about being near it. Maybe it’s the feeling of sleep in the air but Keith always rests better with the cell nearby. He dreams better, not cluttered with the constant sense of want. Instead he can focus on the faint tickle in the back of his head. 

“Dude, what.”

Keith looks up at Lance. He’s standing there in his blue bathrobe and silly lion slippers. He looks confused as hell. 

“Why are you  _ here?”  _ Lance continues. He sounds indignant. Almost like he can’t believe Keith sleeps or something. 

Keith crosses his arms. “Why are  _ you  _ here?” he retorts, but he’s just woken up so his voice comes out a bit slurred.

“I’m taking a walk, what the hell does it look like I’m doing?” Lance gestures with his hands. “You’re like,  _ taking  _ a nap with the enemy?”

“I’m not  _ sleeping  _ with the enemy.” Keith immediately regrets wording it like that. “I mean—” 

Lance snorts. “Nice one. You are such the linguist.”

“I am a man of dry wit.” The words taste fake in his mouth. Keith coughs and a pain shoots through his head, causing a hand to fly up to his forehead.

“Woah, you cool?” Lance asks.

Keith waves him off, getting to his feet. He leans against the cryo cell for support and suddenly he’s drowning. There’s sound invading his head, like a rush of water, except its ideas. A knife to his throat, a hand gripping his wrist, pulling him forward, his head falling back, eyes fluttering closed to better hear the phantoms that surround him.

“Dude what are you doing?” Lance’s hand is on Keith’s arm. He’s at the control panel for Sendak’s cryo cell, fingers inches away from the button. Keith feels the overwhelming urge to press it, to see what happens.

“I—don’t know,” he pauses, taking a step backwards. “I think I was sleepwalking?” He doesn’t really know what just happened, just knows that he doesn’t like the feeling of Lance touching him, doesn’t like the feelings he’s ignored for so long. The connection.

“Uh,” Lance raises an eyebrow. “You sure? Cause I was just talking to you a moment ago, and then you went for the button like a crazy person.” 

“I’m not crazy,” Keith bristles. “Just—sleepwalking.”

Lance doesn’t look like he believes that for even one human earth second.

“Sure, and I’m not one of the five paladins that make up a robot man made from metal lions,” Lance rolls his eyes. “Seriously what’s the deal, we’re part of a team, we’re supposed to  _ share  _ all our  _ secrets _ .”

Keith shoves Lance backwards. “Like that’s ever going to happen. What are you doing out here anyway?”

“I dunno,” Lance sounds defensive. “I was just wandering around. I like to get my stroll in during the morning, yanno? There’s nothing wrong with getting a stroll on.”

Keith sighs. “Whatever. What time is it?”

“I don’t fuckin know we’re in space.”

Keith was the one to rolls his eyes this time. “Great. Later then,” he escapes down the narrow hallway under the cover of dim light and Lance’s stares.

Time continue to pass. Keith wakes up by the cryo cell whether he locks his door or not. Sometimes he has a blanket, wrapped around him like a cocoon. He’s gotten used to it. He hasn’t gotten used to the thoughts that enter his brain willy nilly. They plague him at the most random times, filling his head with dark and soft.

He’s sitting at the dinner table one day, mind awash in strange thoughts that have him drifting into empty space. He approaches the dark void and feels something— _ something— _ pulling at him from far away and—

Lance is licking his elbow.

Lance is licking his fucking elbow. Mechanically, Keith turns his head to the left, where he sees Hunk creeping towards his left arm, tongue barely poking out. He proceeds to elbow them both in the face. 

“Ow!” Lance rubs his nose. “What the heck man?”    

“You were  _ licking  _ me!” Keith says, exasperated and tired and strangely angry.

“Yeah well Hunk and I were testing something!” Lance crosses his arms.

Hunk nods, a red mark starting to blossom on his forehead. “Yeah, you’re not supposed to feel it if we lick and you don’t know it’s happening.”

“Well I  _ noticed,”  _ Keith snarls, suddenly furious because that’s  _ his  _ personal space.

“Woah dude, chill,” Lance stands up. “It was a joke.”

“I didn’t  _ find  _ it  _ funny.”  _

“Stop it,” Shiro’s voice is commanding. Keith looks up and suddenly he’s up close and personal with the man’s robot arm, hands pressed against it.

“Uh,” he pulls his hands away, feeling weird. “Sorry, just like—” He glances back at Hunk and Lance to see them staring. “I’m just going to stop—talking now.”

 

He curls up in his room, makeshift blanket nest below him, something he started a couple weeks ago, and sighs, immersing himself in the pull of space once more.  

When Keith was kicked out of Garrison, he briefly thought about Lance. Maybe they would never see each other again and Lance would never figure out they’re soulmates. Lance would drift through time, looking and looking and never finding. Or, maybe he’d pick up chicks. Keith had sighed, shouldered his bag, and taken a step out into the dry world

 

Pidge is working in one of the many rooms of the castle. That’s where Keith finds them. He also finds the galra crystal. The hunk of corrupted rock that has never looked better. 

What?

He runs his fingers over the uneven surface, feeling a resurgence of space talk. That’s what he calls it now, the feelings he gets when he zones out. Or dreams. Or just focuses on the back of his mind. He shakes his head, a familiar action nowadays and wanders over to Pidge.

“What are you working on?” He asks, not really curious but more interested in starting a conversation.

“So you and Lance, huh?” Pidge looks over their shoulder.

“—what?” 

“Heard about you,” Pidge grins. “Becoming sir licks-a-lot over there.”

“That was Lance being an idiot.” Keith clarifies.

“He’s always an idiot. He doesn’t always lick people,” Pidge winks before turning back to his laptop. 

Keith frowns. “What’s that supposed to mean?” 

“I mean—you and him, am I right? Or am I right?”

Keith narrows his eyes. “Nope. You’re totally wrong. One hundred percent. No. God no.” He doesn’t want to bring it up again, the drowning in fire while still longing for warmth. 

Pidge’s eyebrows do a wiggly dance on their forehead.  _ “Lesbhonest  _ here. I’ve read your diary.”

“I don’t keep a diary.”

Pidge’s eyebrows continue to wiggle. Like caterpillars having a seizure. “Neither do I. But you and Lance are still an item. You’re  _ soulmates.”  _

Keith’s eyes widen. “How the—But—I didn’t—” He crouches, hands on his head. What.  Something tells him to go for the throat but he brushes that aside because space talk isn’t always correct. He stands back up. “How,” It’s one word that portrays his absolute confusion and slight terror.

“Uh—holy shit—I was joking!” Pidge panics. “Are you serious? Uh like— _ what?”  _

All the color drains from Keith’s face. “Fuck.” He’s just given away something that was meant to die with him. Thankfully Pidge is freaking out as well.

“But Lance is always flirting with girls!” Pidge seems beside themself. They hadn’t meant it to be serious when they talked about soulmates but oh shit it was.

“Lance doesn’t  _ know!”  _ Keith covers his eyes. He feels sick.

“How does he not  _ know?” _

“Because he’s always  _ flirting _ with  _ girls!” _

Pidge’s mouth forms a perfect “O” and they pause for a second. “Why haven’t you told him?” They are incredulous.

Keith’s expression flatlines. He’s always ignored the whole “Lance likes girls so much he never notices soulmate connections” thing because he shouldn’t want what he can’t have. He shrugs, voice returning to its normal state of level headed annoyance. “Why do you  _ think? _ The first time I knew, he talked about picking up  _ girls _ like nothing had happened.” 

He’s not bitter.

Pidge’s face softens but there’s a devious glint in their eyes. “Oh, Keith—he didn’t feel anything? Maybe he just wasn’t paying attention!”

“Yeah. Right.” 

“I’m serious! He’s an oblivious toucan sometimes. You know how he is—holy crap how did you end up together?”

“We’re  _ not  _ together,” Keith snaps.

“I mean on Voltron! Of four other people in the entire  _ universe— _ you were stuck with your  _ soulmate.  _ That’s  _ incredible!”  _

“Yeah. It feels great.”

Pidge claps their hands together. “Right! I’m going to tell him!” They turn around to take a step towards the door and Keith immediately tackles them to the ground. 

_ “No, Pidge.”  _ Keith snarls, feeling a desperate sort of rage overtake him. 

“ _ Yes, Pidge,”  _ Pidge parrots. “You gotta, Keith, you  _ gotta.” _

“No, Pidge. Bad idea. No. You  _ can’t _ tell him.”

“Why not?” Pidge’s voice grows louder. “You’re  _ soulmates  _ Keith! You’re  _ meant  _ to be together!”

“Says who? The soulmate gods? The cosmic force that guides the universe? Get  _ real  _ Pidge!” He’s not bitter.

“We pilot  _ magic, flying lions!”  _

Keith resorts to earlier tactics. “You  _ can’t tell him!” _

“You deserve to be  _ happy,  _ Keith!”

“Shut  _ up!”  _ Keith shouts.

_ “Don’t  _ shout at me!” Pidge says indignantly.

“Don’t shout at  _ me!” _

“What is going _on?”_ Shiro sounds as confused as Keith is terrified.

“Uh—” Pidge starts. “We were—”

“Training,” Keith finishes, releasing Pidge from his grip. “Uh. Yeah.”

“Right.” Clearly Shiro doesn’t buy it, but he doesn’t push it either. “Well we’re going to train,  _ together,  _ so meet us at the training deck in five.”

“Okay!” Pidge chirps.

Keith dwells. Together. With the team. With Lance. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to kudos, comment, subscribe, bookmark, etc if you like it! Your enthusiasm keeps me going!


	3. the obvious

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> didn't proofread it a lot because I wanted to get it out there. :>

Lance is a man of many words. That’s how he likes to think of it. Many words and big biceps. At least he hopes the ladies think so. One of these days. One of these days he’ll make a catch. That day is not today. Today is training day, and train he shall. Team Voltron collects in the center of the training deck, and—weird—Pidge is eyeballing Keith like there’s no tomorrow.

“What’s up with you guys?” He asks, wondering maybe if they had like, a private joke, or a fight, or something.

“Nothing,” Keith snaps as Pidge repeats it much more happily. The shorter paladin’s eyes twinkle. “Ready for some team  _ bonding,  _ Lance?”

“I mean,” Lance glances at Hunk. “I’m always ready for some team time.”

Shiro nods at him. “In formation.” They shuffle around till they’re all in a circle, backs facing inwards.

“Run training sequence 68,” Shiro’s arm glows to life and Lance can see Keith staring over his shoulder. He wonders why. Keith’s been acting kinda weird lately. He’s found him several times sleeping near Sendak’s cryo pod. He’s only woken him up the first time. He wonders what’s going on. The gladiator launches and he hefts his bayard. 

There’s a flash of color at the edge of vision. He spies red streaking towards black and suddenly Keith has latched onto Shiro’s arm. Shiro looks bewildered. Pidge and Hunk seem amused? What the hell is going on here? 

The gladiator whirls its staff through the air and Lance gets out of the way. Shiro is shaking his arm, trying to scrape Keith off who is utterly unresponsive. The training bot shuts down and Shiro continues to shake his arm, attempting to loosen Keith. Lance thinks he’s like a koala, wrapped around Shiro’s arm. 

“Is everything alright down there?” Allura’s voice rings out over the comm system. She sounds like she’s smiling.

The three free paladins shuffle around Shiro, whose arm is powering down or something. Galra tech, you just gotta wonder.

“Uh,” Hunk pauses. “Is he okay?”

“Keith,” Shiro says steadily. “Keith. Keith. Keith, can you hear me?”

His arm is fully powered down now, and Keith slips down and lets go of Shiro’s arm. There’s a vacant look in his eyes, like he’s somewhere else. It’s worrisome. 

“Hello?” Pidge waves their hand in front of Keith’s face. “Hello?” they drag out the word till it’s long and dry. Shiro taps Keith on the shoulder. Lance stares. He’s literally acting like a robot. Just quiet and still and  _ different.  _ Lance doesn’t like different. He likes many things but different isn’t really one of them. He wonders what’s going on. Maybe he can help?

Lance puts his mouth by Keith’s ear and says in a loud voice.  _ “Hola.”  _

Keith flinches, scrambling away from Lance’s naturally loud—but in this case  _ louder— _ voice. He shakes his head, something Lance has been noticing a lot lately, and his dark hair falls into his eyes. He seems confused.

“Uh,” Hunk presses his thumbs together. “So like what just happened? Cause, I mean, he kinda went stiff like my cats used to when they were about to have a bath but Keith isn’t a cat so that’s weird and I don’t know—is something wrong? Aw, man is it hot—”

Shiro kneels down. “Keith, are you okay? What are you feeling?”

A weird expression crosses Keith’s face. Lance can’t really tell what that expression means so he leans closer over Shiro’s shoulder to stare him down. Keith isn’t really saying anything and Lance doesn’t want to admit that he’s worried—because they’re  _ blood rivals  _ of course—but he is, just a little. Unfortunately, someone’s elbow digs into his lower back and he pitches forward, head hitting Keith’s with a cringe-worthy sound.

“Oops!” Pidge apologizes.

“What the  _ fruck.”  _ Lance’s head hurts like hell but he knows better than to curse around Shiro. Keith is also holding his head in his hands, making an angry hissing sound between clenched teeth. Lance is pretty sure he can hear, as close as he is, Keith’s voice repeating  _ “Ow,”  _ between pauses in hissing. His head  _ throbs.  _ It feels like there’s another heart crammed next to his brain and it’s fuckin  _ pissed. _

“Sorry!” Pidge apologizes again. “I lost my balance.”

If Lance wasn’t in so much pain right now then he would probably question Pidge a bit more, but his head still throbs and he’s awkwardly sprawled on the ground after Shiro kinda reflex pushed him off of his shoulder. 

Hunk makes a weird sympathetic sound with his tongue. “That looked painful.”

Lance wobbles upright, giving Pidge a withering look. They look kinda dissapointed. For some reason. 

Keith twitches, and then relaxes, a deep sigh escaping his mouth. “Ow,” he finally says.

“Are you okay?” Pidge asks, sounding worried now.

“You were like my cat,” Hunk says at the same time. “All stiff.”

Keith frowns. “All… stiff?”

Lance stops clutching at his head for a minute. “You don’t remember any of that?”

“Any of—what?”

Shiro puts a hand on Keith’s shoulder. “You were… attracted to my arm. Do you remember what happened?”

One of Keith’s hand travels up to massage his temples. “I—I think I blacked out?”

Allura is there now, looking worried. “Blacked out?” she asks.

Lance sees something in Keith’s eyes, something telling even as he says, “I dunno, I think I just passed out or something. Like sleepwalking.”

Lance knows Keith is lying for a reason that he cannot explain. He can feel it in his heart, a slight pain that tells him,  _ somehow,  _ that Keith is keeping something hidden away. 

“My dad used to sleepwalk, I really don’t think that was sleepwalking,” Hunk speaks up. 

“Keith, how about you get scanned by Coran,” Shiro pauses. “That wasn’t… normal. Hunk, how about you go with him.”

Allura nods. “That sounds like a good idea.”

Lance notices as Keith stumbles away, Hunk following him, that his eyes dart back to Shiro’s arm in passing.

 

The next day Pidge is acting awfully chipper. They seem to hang around Lance a lot.

“So,” they say, drumming their feet against the training deck. Lance is shooting targets because he needs more practice. “Have you seen Keith lately?”

Lance’s bayard turns back into its dormant form. He really  _ hasn’t  _ seen Keith lately. Maybe at meals a couple times but aside from that it’s been a quiet day. “No,” he says aloud. “I haven’t.”

Pidge grins. “You guys need to  _ bond  _ more. Yanno, forge a  _ connection.  _ Like, be a team.”

Lance narrows his eyes. “You’re acting kinda weird Pidge.”

“ _ You’re  _ acting weird!” Pidge makes finger guns at Lance. “But you should probably check on him.”

Lance knows, grudgingly that Pidge is right. He also knows that Pidge is a scheming little bastard. He waits a few minutes before he leaves, to save face.

Keith wasn’t in his room. Lance used his powers of cognitive reasoning and association to quickly match up where the red paladin probably was. He made his way down the halls and steps to Sendak’s cryo cell. 

At first he doesn’t see him. Keith is curled up in a corner, on top of a pile of blankets and sheets, head resting against the very edge of the cryo cell. He looks like he’s dreaming, eyes darting around under his eyelids. Lance kind of wants to wake him up, but he doesn’t. Instead, for some odd, inexplicable reason, he moves closer to examine the other teen. Know your enemies. The phrase runs down his spine. He leans in close, like a scientist inspecting Keith. His mouth is slightly open in sleep and Lance can see that his lips are bruised and scabbed. He wonders why, tilting his head to look even closer. Is it just him or are Keith’s canines longer than average? That must be why he nicks his lips like that. Weird.

In fact, the longer Lance stares at Keith, the weirder it seems. There’s something off about him that he can’t really place. He’d noticed, for instance, that when he’d gone in for the elbow with hunk that one time, he’d licked mainly fuzz. Elbows didn’t really have that much hair did they? Ew, and he licked that? Why is he still thinking about it? This is gross. But weird. It’s still weird. Keith’s been acting really weird lately. The thing with Shiro’s arm, and the blacking out and like, the sleeping by Sendak’s cell. Weird. When did it start too? Like when they first captured Sendak? Or before? Lance doesn’t entirely remember. 

The comm link crackles to life with loud blaring static and Keith jerks, head snapping up to collide against Lance’s forehead. Pain radiates through Lance’s skull and he takes a few small steps backwards. He sees Keith, fingers touching the glass of the cryo cell, a wild look in his yellow— _ yellow? _ —eyes. The ship is suddenly rocked backwards, tilting at an angle and Keith and Lance slide down the slope as the castle compensates and tries to regain it’s balance. The lights flicker once, twice, and then they are in the dark. 

Lance immediately assumes the worst.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you liked it feel free to comment, kudos, subscribe, whatever else. Your support is greatly appreciated!


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